Energy

The kinds of energy policies we'll all have to adopt in the coming decades are already on display in New England. The region barely uses any coal, and the six states there are embracing renewables like it's 2050. In 2014 Rhode Island and Vermont were the only two states in the US that didn't use any coal at all. That makes Rhode Island the most logical place for the nation's first offshore wind farm, called Block Island Wind Farm. The wind farm will generate 30 megawatts of energy — enough to power every home on Block Island. [node:read-more:link]

At COP21 last year, the EU committed to cutting its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030. As part of its climate and energy plans, the EU also has set an objective to achieve at least 27 percent renewable energy use by 2030. The European Commission already has signaled that these ambitious objectives will require substantial 12 to 20 percent GHG emission reductions and 12 to 14 percent renewable sources in transport. [node:read-more:link]

The US uses an astounding amount of energy: about 97 quadrillion BTUs, or about 18% of world's total energy consumption. And demand is only going to increase over time. The majority of the energy the country generates — which powers America's homes, internet, and urban infrastructure — coems from fossil fuels, and isn't renewable or sustainable. A possible solution? Wind farms. [node:read-more:link]

The state committee charged with promoting transparency in government is asking lawmakers to overhaul a 2015 law that made secret information about the transportation of crude oil and other hazardous materials by railroad through Maine. The legislature’s Right to Know Advisory Committee voted to send a letter to the Judiciary Committee recommending that it reconsider the controversial law in order to ensure that the government is not keeping railroad data secret unnecessarily. [node:read-more:link]

The Environmental Protection Agency has been taken to the woodshed by its Office of Inspector General, which said the agency has failed to provide legally required reports to Congress.  In a report posted on the EPA's website on Thursday, OIG said EPA has not prepared reports on the environmental impact of the Renewable Fuel Standard, as required by the Energy Information and Security Act of 2007. [node:read-more:link]

Rice farmer Mark Isbell changed how he nurtures rice plants on 70 acres of his Arkansas farm. Instead of flooding the rice fields for the entire growing season, he now practices what is called alternating wet and dry farming, where he allows the water to drain from the rice field for about a week mid-season. "What that impacts is the cell bacteria that typically in a flooded environment creates methane," Isbell told GreenBiz in an interview over the phone, the sound of his truck rumbling in the background. [node:read-more:link]

One of the roundtable attendees was state Sen Chauncey "Greg" Gregory, who has sponsored significant legislation in the state to support solar power. A few years ago, Gregory visited his sister in Portland, Oregon, and saw solar panels on hundreds of rooftops. “It seemed ridiculous to me that a state that is cloudy 8 months a year had so much solar energy,” he says, “while South Carolina had so little.” He decided to try and change that. The state’s sunny neighbors - Georgia and North Carolina were making big strides in solar. [node:read-more:link]

Solar power can burn a hole in a state’s budget, but a well-designed plan can bring benefits. Demand for residential or rooftop solar power, spurred in part by state incentives, is growing rapidly. But if incentives are not well-designed, they can overwhelm a state’s budget. Regulators and utility officials in several states have been surprised – not always in a positive way – by the effects of their solar power policies. Louisiana is one of the more recent, and more dramatic, examples. [node:read-more:link]

The industry that burns wood to produce electricity is floundering nationwide because of low power prices, and some lawmakers from heavily forested states are pushing to provide it with an extraordinary market advantage. [node:read-more:link]

A steady drumbeat of new natural-gas plants have replaced coal as the dominant source of electricity generation in the U.S.  At the beginning of 2016, America’s coal production fell to its lowest level in 30 years.  But the increasingly heavy reliance on natural gas has exacted a toll. The energy-associated carbon dioxide emissions from natural gas are expected to top the CO2 emissions from coal for the first time more than 40 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. [node:read-more:link]